Tower House
A striking self-build home
Part of the masterplan for Oosterwold, a new town outside Amsterdam, is given over to self-build houses, and has attracted a number of buyers excited by the possibilities of designing a bespoke home.
We were commissioned by a young couple keen to create something beautiful and unique and which accommodates their different lifestyles. He is a video game designer who goes to bed early and works all day. She knits clothes and stays up late to watch the stars through a telescope. Both wanted to grow their own food.
We designed a house which responds to the key requirements of the site but which would also accommodate their distinctive interests and habits.
Organised around a productive garden including an orchard, the house appears as a little timber tower in the otherwise flat, polder landscape. The ground floor opens to the garden, providing a robust space for coming and going and for taking a break from gardening. The first floor is for cooking and eating while the top floor includes spaces for working, sleeping and star gazing.
Externally the house is clad in patterned timber with a standing seam metal roof and large windows that give each elevation its own unique character.
